Politics and Culture

1. I listened to the debate from the Angel game last night. Like the Texas Rangers, McCain won handily. However, it may not have changed the standings, so to speak.

2. When did it get to the point that a win for Obama means not embarrassing himself? Wasn't he supposed to be the articulate one and McCain the tottering old fool?

3. McCain won throughout and decisively.

4. Obama struck first, trying to tie McCain to Bush policies. Obama is counting on people being dumb. To people with a certain minimum level of political sophistication, the McCain-Bush references were clumsy and obvious. I should think that most people are tired of that line, Obama's only real strategy throughout the campaign, but maybe not.

5. McCain successfully countered those attacks with examples of his disagreements with Bush and Republicans in general.

6. McCain attacked Obama's spending without seeming mean.

7. On economics, McCain's Ireland example was very effective. Obama was very weak on the economy. Here's what people should (will?) take away: Obama wants to spend a lot of money and raise taxes. McCain wants to spend a lot less and reduce taxes so that the economy can grow.

8. Obama brought up "childhood education." McCain was right to ignore it. Refuting it sounds mean and there's no need anyways. Even in super-liberal California, a pre-school initiative lost in the last election (It's weird that only people without children voted for it.).

9. On foreign policy, McCain pounded Obama like a drum. In fact, people may have felt sorry for Obama on some level.

10. Obama didn't "umm" and 'ahhh" quite so much.

11. Obama's Kenya story was out of place and sappy.

12. People have already commented on the bracelet thing. Obama's an insincere huckster.

13. McCain took Obama's hanging curveball on veteran issues and hit it out of the park. I liked when McCain said that he "loved" the veterans. We don't hear enough about "love."

14. If McCain can articulate a free-market, supply side argument for lowering taxes, he may score some points. It's been so long that somebody has argued such a point of view that it doesn't sound "tired" at all, but kind of fresh. The recent goings-on in Washington may give people more confidence in "Main street" than Washington D.C. and that's good for Republicans.

15. McCain missed some opportunities and didn't start new lines of attack although the Ireland thing was good. If he can do it in an artful way, many people would be surprised to learn that the financial crisis is mostly Democrats' fault.

16. If McCain doesn't gain from this debate, and nothing else happens, he's finished.